South Hadley 'Green Bag' program begins almost without a hitch

SOUTH HADLEY – People had questions and comments right up to the last minute, but the first day of the new “Green Bag” trash collection program on Friday went very smoothly in South Hadley, said Veronique “V” Blanchard-Smith, Solid Waste Coordinator at the town’s DPW.

“It was great,” said Blanchard-Smith. “Roughly 70 percent of people had it down pat and perfect.”

One of the things that had worried her was that some people expressed confusion over whether the recycling program for cardboard and containers was part of the Green Bag program.

It’s not. Cardboard and container pickup will go on as before, independent of the Green Bag program.

The new program is for household trash. It will continue to be picked up every two weeks by a hauling company hired by the town.

But instead of getting a bill from the town, residents will be paying by the bag. It’s sometimes called a “pay-as-you-throw” system.

Standard-sized green bags are selling in selected South Hadley stores for $1 (for a large bag) and 50 cents (for a small bag). As long as the trash fits in a green bag, that’s all the household is paying for the service. No bills.

The idea behind the program is that people will be less wasteful and will recycle more when they pay by the bag.

If a household puts out eight large bags, for example, the service will cost $8. If they figure out ways to reduce their waste, they might wind up fitting it all in three bags for $3 or two bags for $2.

“The only thing that matters is that it has to be in the green bag,” said Blanchard-Smith.

In the days leading up to the debut of the system, people were frustrated for a number of reasons, but Blanchard-Smith said she can’t think of any caller who didn’t calm down once she explained how the system worked.

Some calls came from people who weren’t able to get green bags because the stores that were supposed to carry them had run out. Blanchard-Smith said it’s been hard for stores to gauge at first how many bags they need.

Also, some customers bought up a lot of bags initially so they wouldn’t get left out, she said.

On Friday, some households had not caught on to the Green Bag system, even after all the publicity, including a public workshop by Blanchard-Smith. They left out their barrels as usual.

In these cases, residents got a warning. “For people who didn’t follow the rules, we put a letter from the town on the barrel,” said Blanchard-Smith.